An expedition into one of Aotearoa's most remote areas has unlocked some long-hidden secrets, and will give Kiwis a glimpse into an unseen past.
Dr Kurt Bennett prepares for his historic dive at Cuttle Cove - the first time it has had an underwater archaeological survey. Photo: Supplied / Toitu OSM
The six-day expedition last week into Fiordland's Chalky Inlet and Preservation Inlet will provide the content for the second Furthest Frontier docu-series.
In terms of New Zealand's most far flung corners it does not get more isolated than the fiords on the south-west coast.
Taiari-Chalky Inlet and Rakituma-Preservation Inlet are more than 80 kilometres from the nearest town and if you try to tackle the distance on foot, it is a pretty arduous adventure.
But Toitū Otago Settlers Museum exhibition director Will McKee said there was a long human history in the area.
Expedition director Will McKee empties a gumboot after a shore sortie. Photo: Supplied / Sean Brosnahan
"Some of the places we went to included the first shore-based whaling station in New Zealand at Port Bunn, in Cuttle Cove, and across the harbour in Te Oneroa, which was a gold mining settlement," he said.
"These are really remote places but it's fascinating to understand that at a time towards the end of the 19th century there were two towns in there with a population of over 1000. It's incredible stuff, but now the bush has taken it all back."
McKee was the director of last week's expedition.
He was joined by people from Ōraka Aparima Rūnaka, Heritage New Zealand, the Department of Conservation and Otago Museum.
Ron Bull of Oraka Aparima and Will McKee of Toitu. Photo: Supplied / Chris Kwak
The primary purpose of the journey was to film the second Furthest Frontier series.
The documentary gave all Kiwis the opportunity to experience the most inaccessible parts of their backyard, McKee said.
"We really wanted to bring those stories to people who aren't going to get to these places. A large majority of New Zealanders are never going to get to these remote places, so we wanted to bring them to the people."
It was hard to imagine anyone could inhabit such a forbidding environment, but European settlement was long predated by Māori occupation of the area.
Ron Bull, who whakapapas to Ōraka Aparima Rūnaka, said despite spending plenty of time in Fiordland, it was his first visit into the two remote inlets.
"Getting further south into those more southern spots was quite an emotional time for me to be honest.
"Knowing the whakapapa of the place, the names within the place and how I'm connected to there, it was very important for me to get in and feel what that place had to offer. Just to sort of get to know what it is and who was there and walk in those footprints."
The expedition visited the site of early Māori rock art.
Ron Bull of Oraka Aparima examines ancient rock art in Taiari-Chalky Inlet in Fiordland. Photo: Supplied / Toitu OSM
The group's members were the first to see it in 40 years.
They also visited European sealing camps, gold mines and the hulk of the 19th-century government steamer Stella.
But most groundbreaking were two underwater surveys; of New Zealand's first shore-based whaling station at Cuttle Cove, and the wharf at the boom-to-bust gold ghost town of Te Oneroa.
Maritime archaeologist Kurt Bennett said they had provided a first step on the path to a deeper understanding of what was in the remote waters off Fiordland.
"This is the first time that these two sites have been exposed to an underwater archaeological survey and it's the start, so it is a stepping stone. And the areas I've surveyed are only a very small drop in the ocean, but it leaves the doors wide open for other exploration and surveys to be completed," Dr Bennett said.
The second series of Furthest Frontier will be released later this year.
Dr Kurt Bennett during his historic survey of the seafloor at Cuttle Cove. Photo: Supplied / Toitu OSM